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steviesbicrisis · 1 year

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Zombie AU where Steve gets to an unhealthy level of "it's my responsibility to protect everyone" because when the Pandemic started, Barb Holland was one of the first infected and he had to kill her as she was trying to bite Nancy.

Even if it was the right thing to do, the relationship between him and Nancy has never been the same and he promised himself he would never get to that point again.

For the following years he trains, takes the most dangerous missions, always makes sure to be in the first line to protect his friends and somehow he manages to survive despite always putting others first.

It all changes when he meets Eddie. Who doesn't expect him to jump right in front of the danger to save him, who gets mad every time he does so, who tries the best he can to share the burden with him.

And Steve, for the first time in years, dares to be hopeful about the future, to daydream a farm where he and Eddie could live together, to let go of the things he can't control.

Steve dares to fall in love.

And right when he finally believes he deserves good things too, Eddie gets bitten.

It was supposed to be a simple mission to look for supplies in the abandoned trailer park, Eddie offered to go since he knew the place better than anyone else, and they were so sure it would've been a simple one they let Dustin go with him.

It only took an infected who was stuck in one of the trailers to get him. Dustin is in tears as he tells Steve how Eddie jumped on the infected to protect him.

All the progress Steve made thanks to Eddie, learning to lean on others, to not blame himself for fucked up shit he cannot control, goes away in an instant. Because Steve should've gone instead of Eddie, he should've been there to protect Dustin, he should've been bitten.

Steve takes his decision quickly.

He sends Dustin home with Hopper, he takes one of the guns and promises he will handle the situation.

He goes inside the trailer as they're driving away, Eddie is sitting on the floor, leaning on the wall behind him, a knife in his hand.

When he sees Steve, he is ready to protest and send him away until Steve shows him his gun. Eddie looks stunned, then nods slowly.

Steve sits next to him "I'm sorry".

"It's not your fault" Eddie sounds so convinced Steve wishes he could believe him.

Steve takes Eddie's free hand in his "I'll stay with you until it's time."

"Steve, you don't have to do this-"

Steve squeezes his hand "Please, let me buy us a little more time."

Eddie quietly stares at him, studying his expression, and he knows him so well Steve wonders if he figured out his real plan. If he knows that Steve has no intention to get out of that trailer without him.

Eddie's eyes get watery and he can't tell if it's because he's scared of dying or because he knows Steve won't use his gun.

Finally, Eddie nods "Okay."

Steve nods back "Okay."

Eddie rests his head on his shoulder.

And they wait.

#I cannot believe I just wrote something so tragic #can you tell I've watched the last of us recently?#I'm SORRY #I am 1000% no angst until there's a zombie apocalypse involved #angst #steddie angst #zombie au #tlos au #steddie au #steddie #steddie prompt #steddie zombie au #eddie munson #steve harrington #stranger things #steve and eddie #steve x eddie

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mengjue · 1 year

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What's Happening in China? The November 2022 Protests

Hello! I know that there's so much going on in the world right now, so not everyone may be aware of what is happening in China right now. I thought that I would try to write a brief explainer, because the current wave of protests is truly unprecedented in the past 30+ years, and there is a lot of fear over what may happen next. For context, I'm doing this as someone who has a PhD in Asian Studies specialising in contemporary Chinese politics, so I don't know everything but I have researched China for many years.

I'll post some decent links at the end along with some China specialists & journalists I follow on Twitter (yeah I know, but it's still the place for the stuff at the moment). Here are the bullet points for those who just want a brief update:

Xi Jinping's government is still enacting a strict Zero Covid policy enforced by state surveillance and strict lockdowns.

On 24 November a fire in an apartment in Urumqi, Xinjiang province, killed 10. Many blamed strict quarantine policies on preventing evacuation.

Protests followed and have since spread nationwide.

Protesters are taking steps not seen since Tiananmen in 1989, including public chants for Xi and the CCP to step down.

Everyone is currently unsure how the government will respond.

More in-depth discussion and links under the cut:

First a caveat: this is my own analysis/explanation as a Chinese politics specialist. I will include links to read further from other experts and journalists. Also, this will be quite long, so sorry about that!

China's (aka Xi Jinping's) Covid Policy:

The first and most important context: Xi has committed to a strict Zero Covid policy in China, and has refused to change course. Now, other countries have had similar approaches and they undoubtedly saved lives - I was fortunate to live in New Zealand until this year, and Prime Minister Ardern's Zero Covid approach in 2020-2021 helped protect many. The difference is in the style/scope of enforcement, the use of vaccines, and the variant at play. China has stepped up its control on public life over the past 10 years, and has used this to enforce strict quarantine measures without full regard to the impact on people's lives - stories of people not getting food were common. Quarantine has also become a feared situation, as China moves people to facilities often little better than prisons and allegedly without much protection from catching Covid within. A personal friend in Zhengzhou went through national, then provincial, then local quarantines when moving back from NZ, and she has since done her best to avoid going back for her own mental and physical health. Xi has also committed China to its two home-grown vaccines, Sinovac and Sinopharm, both of which have low/dubious efficacy and are considered ineffective against new variants. Finally, with delta and then omicron most of the Zero-Covid countries have modified their approach due to the inability to maintain zero cases. China remains the only country still enacting whole-city eradication lockdowns, and they have become more frequent to the point that several are happening at any given time. The result is a population that is incredibly frustrated and losing hope amidst endless lockdowns and perceived ineffectiveness to address the pandemic.

Other Issues at Play:

Beyond the Covid situation, China is also wrestling with the continued slowdown in its economic growth. While its economic rise and annual GDP growth was nigh meteoric from the 80s to the 00s, it has been slowing over the past ten years, and the government is attempting to manage the transition away from an export-oriented economy to a more fully developed one. However, things are still uncertain, and Covid has taken its toll as it has elsewhere the past couple of years. Youth unemployment in particular is reaching new highs at around 20%, and Xi largely ignored this in his speech at the Party Congress in October (where he entered an unprecedented third term). As a result of the perceived uselessness of China's harsh work culture and its failure to result in a better life, many young Chinese have been promoting 躺平 tǎng píng or "lying flat", aka doing the bare minimum just to get by (similar to the English "quiet quitting"). The combination of economic issues and a botched Covid approach is important, as these directly affect the lives of ordinary middle-class Chinese, and historical it has only been when this occurred that mass movements really took off. The most famous, Tiananmen in 1989, followed China's opening up economic reforms and the dismantling of many economic safety nets allowing for growing inequality. While movements in China often grow to include other topics, having a foundation in something negatively impacting the average Han Chinese person's livelihood is important.

The Spark - 24 Nov 2022 Urumqi Apartment Fire:

The current protests were sparked by a recent fire that broke out in a flat in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang province. (This is the same Xinjiang that is home to the Uighur people, against whom China has enacted a campaign of genocide and cultural destruction.) The fire occurred in the evening and resulted in 10 deaths, which many online blamed on the strict lockdown measures imposed by officials, who prevented people from leaving their homes. It even resulted in a rare public apology by city officials. However, with anger being so high nationwide, in addition to many smaller protests that have occurred over the past two years, this incident has ignited a nationwide movement.

The Protests and Their Significance:

The protests that have broken out over the past couple of days representing the largest and most significant challenge to the leadership since the 1989 Tiananmen movement. Similar to that movement, these protests have occurred at universities and cities across the country, with many students taking part openly. This scale is almost unseen in China, particularly for an anti-government protest. Other than Tiananmen in 1989, the most widespread movements that have occurred have been incidents such as the protest of the 1999 Belgrade bombings or the 2005 and then 2012 anti-Japanese protests, all of which were about anger toward a foreign country.

Beyond the scale the protests are hugely significant in their message as well. Protesters are publicly shouting the phrases "习近平下台 Xí Jìnpíng xiàtái!" and "共产党下台 Gòngchǎndǎng xiàtái!", which mean "Xi Jinping, step down/resign!" and "CCP, step down/resign!" respectively. To shout a direct slogan for the government to resign is unheard of in China, particularly as Xi has tightened control of civil society. And people are doing this across the country in the thousands, openly and in front of police. This is a major challenge for a leader and party who have prioritised regime stability as a core interest for the majority of their history.

Looking Ahead:

Right now, as of 15:00 Australian Eastern time on Monday, 28 November 2022, the protests are only in their first couple of days and we are unsure as to how the government will respond. Police have already been seen beating protesters and journalists and dragging them away in vehicles. However, in many cases the protests have largely been monitored by police but still permitted to occur. There seems to be uncertainty as to how they want to respond just yet, and as such no unified approach.

Many potential outcomes exist, and I would warn everyone to be careful in overplaying what can be achieved. Most experts I have read are not really expecting this to result in Xi's resignation or regime change - these things are possible, surely, but it is a major task to achieve and the unity & scale of the protest movement remains to be fully seen. The government may retaliate with a hard crackdown as it has done with Tiananmen and other protests throughout the years. It may also quietly revamp some policies without publicly admitting a change in order to both pacify protesters and save face. The CCP often uses mixed tactics, both coopting and suppressing protest movements over the years depending on the situation. Changing from Zero Covid may prove more challenging though, given how much Xi has staked his political reputation on enforcing it.

What is important for everyone online, especially those of us abroad, is to watch out for the misinformation campaign the government will launch to counter these protests. Already twitter is reportedly seeing hundreds of Chinese bot accounts mass post escort advertisements using various city names in order to drown out protest results in the site's search engine. Chinese officials will also likely invoke the standard narrative of Western influence and CIA tactics as the reason behind the protests, as they did during the Hong Kong protests.

Finally, there will be a new surge of misinformation and bad takes from tankies, or leftists who uncritically support authoritarian regimes so long as they are anti-US. An infamous one, the Qiao Collective, has already worked to shift the narrative away from the protests and onto debating the merits of Zero Covid. This is largely similar to pro-Putin leftists attempting the justify his invasion of Ukraine. Always remember that the same values that you use to criticise Western countries should be used to criticise authoritarian regimes as well - opposing US militarism and racism, for example, is not incompatible with opposing China's acts of genocide and state suppression. If you want further info (and some good sardonic humour) on the absurd takes and misinfo from pro-China tankies, I would recommend checking out Brian Hioe in the links below.

Finally, keep in mind that this is a grass-roots protest made by people in China, who are putting their own lives at risk to demonstrate openly like this. There have already been so many acts of bravery by those who just want a better future for themselves and their country, and it is belittling and disingenuous to wave away everything they are doing as being just a "Western front" or a few "fringe extremists".

Links:

BBC live coverage page with links to analysis and articles

ABC (Australia) analysis

South China Morning Post analysis

Experts & Journalists to Check Out:

Brian Hioe - Journalist & China writer, New Bloom Magazine

Bonnie Glaser - China scholar, German Marshall Fund

Vicky Xu - Journalist & researcher, Australian Strategic Policy Institute

Stephen McDonnell - Journalist, BBC

M Taylor Fravel - China scholar, MIT

New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre - NZ's hub of China scholarship (I was fortunate to attend their conferences during my PhD there, they do great work!)

If you've reached the end I hope this helps with understanding what's going on right now! A lot of us who know friends and whanau in China are worried for their safety, so please spread the word and let's hope that there is something of a positive outcome ahead.

#孟珏’s china corner #中国 #上海 #习近平 #习近平下台 #共产党下台 #China #Shanghai #China protests #China protests 2022 #Xi Jinping #Xi Jinping step down #CCP step down #Xi Jinping resign #CCP resign #乌鲁木齐 #Urumqi #Urumqi fire #Urumqi apartment fire

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angelltheninth · 1 year

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Can u do a meeting up with an online friend with genshin men who might have a crush on you maybe kaeya childe and ayato or anyone else you want. Also i absolutely adore your writing style

This hits hard cause I've made some friends online over the pandemic and have actually had the chance to meet them, it was the best thing ever.

Pairing: Kaeya, Childe, Ayato x Fem!Reader

Tags: fluff, developing relationship, friends to lovers, online friends, meet cute, flirting, texting, long distance

A/N: Not gonna lie, meeting some of my online friends really made me cry of joy.

KAEYA

He was the one who wanted to meet up bad but was nervous about it all the same. Kaeya is pretty cocky while talking to you online, through his texts and the photos he sends. When he's making plans to meet up he wants it to be more spontaneous then a full plan. After all he sends you things randomly so why not see where things go. Kaeya is the perfect gentleman in person, at first, but once he relaxes a little his flirty side comes through. Will most likely ask you out on a walk, something low pressure and casual for your first meet up. Only towards the end does he hold your hand and is the first one to text you a heart when the meeting ends, asking when the next one is.

"Hah, sorry if I seem a little nervous right now, some of my friends were telling me I'm overreacting but can you blame a guy when he's meeting such a pretty girl in person for the first time? My eye patch is real. Did you think I was just trying to look cool over camera all this time?"

CHILDE

Childe spends a few hours before the meeting going though his clothes. He's normally quite casual for when he talks to you but now you're meeting for dinner. Going on a first date with someone he's bein flirting on and off with for the past few months is scarier then he thought it'd be. Must be because he's so invested in you. He has something of a reputation as a ladies man so Childe wants to make sure you don't get a bad first impression. He would take a lot of photos of himself shirtless and even video chat while shirtless, after he just got back from the gym but having you actually touch him, wrap your arm around his while you walk, smile at him from across the table and leave your hand there for him to reach out and hold is something that has his head spinning and his stomach twisting.

"You keep looking up at me, didn't you get enough pics before? I can send more. Or maybe you want my abs? W-What's wrong? Oh. Am I coming on too strong? Ahg! Look I just... I don't wanna mess this up you know? I know I've got a reputation and I don't want you to think I was cozying up to you just to get in your pants or something. Can I start this over? I swear I'll be cool this time."

AYATO

He makes an iron clad schedule for the two of you. Too bad it falls apart quickly when it starts to rain. He'd been so excited to meet you that he forgot to look at the weather forecast for that day! Now you're stuck in this little café for who knows how long. Ayato tries to make the best of it, complimenting you at every turn, sitting close to you and inching his hand closer and closer until it covers yours. Will wait for you to kiss his cheek first but will be the one to ask for a second date afterwards, if you don't beat him to it. Ayato will always text you a good morning message first thing when he wakes up without fail, and after you begin dating its followed by an affectionate nickname.

"How could I forget this? I am so sorry, I told you all about these plans and you dressed up beautifully today and now... you know what we can still make the most of it can't we? Thank you, that you're not upset I mean."

#genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #kaeya x reader #childe x reader #ayato kamisato x reader #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact headcanons #genshin impact fluff #genshin imagines #genshin headcanons #genshin fluff #genshin impact x female reader #genshin impact x you #genshin x female reader #genshin x you #kaeya fluff #childe fluff #ayato fluff

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utilitycaster · 6 days

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@rowzeoli replied to your post “Do you think part of the D20 journalistic bias...”:

I rarely go on tumblr so sorry if you see me spamming your posts tonight, but I really enjoy your perspective and thoughts! I think I'm the journalist you're referencing in regards to the Fantasy High Junior Year article and unfortunately 1) journalists only get access to interview subjects at very specific junctions (usually press day before the series goes out or halfway through) 2) most publications are honestly Going Through It and cutting freelance rates and just not paying to cover AP

So I'll be totally honest - I post on Tumblr because I assume it is far more unlikely to be seen and so I can vent freely (hence the fairly harsh tone of the criticism in the original post), but I guess this is a chance to clarify. I don't expect anything to change, nor do I expect you to respond; indeed, I wouldn't blame you if you block me after this. But if readership is down (and who knows? maybe it's not and I'm the outlier), this may be illuminating.

The issue with your specific article - which I brought up relatively tangential to the larger point of "at this point I think Polygon's AP/TTRPG coverage is a waste of time to read" isn't really that it's only an early look at the series; and because Fantasy High Junior Year is at this time ongoing, it's honestly entirely valid that there hasn't been a follow-up. It's, well, the "surface-level and factually wrong" issue.

Dimension 20 was by no means the pioneer of remote recording as you claim in your article; that had long been the default of smaller recorded AP shows well before pandemic lockdown for the simple reason that if you're not a media company the overhead is very low - no need to have a dedicated space or even cameras beyond decent laptops. Burrow's End's puppetry? Critical Role's Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Crystal Palace did shadow puppets in 2019. They had diagetic audio on the main campaign as early as 2016. I don't even like Kollok, but that's had complex set design since 2019. Meanwhile premise of the article is yet another rehash of Polygon's "Dimension 20 is CHANGING THE GAME" constant drumbeat, while your actual pull quotes from Brennan Lee Mulligan are him musing that this is simply an entry in an ancient tradition of storytelling and isn't, in fact, terribly novel. The interview fails utterly to back up your point and indeed contradicts it; I get that the timeline was probably tight but this is outright incorrect in multiple places and your argument isn't just unsupported; it's outright dismissed by the very person you claim is proving it. If the premise came before the interview, it needed to be reworked afterwards, and if it came after the interview…I'm not sure what to say, really.

This isn't your article, and I'm putting it here to illustrate that this has been a pattern for Polygon's AP coverage specifically. This article about Worlds Beyond Number is perhaps my favorite example of "this is not serious journalism:" Rusty Quill Gaming, The Adventure Zone, Friends at the Table, and NADDPod are all theater of the mind long-running podcasts (RQG's campaign lasted a whopping 7 years of real time) and that's just off the top of my head; the idea of a long-running edited audio podcast being novel is laughable. RQG and TAZ both started at level 1; I'm not personally familiar with Friends at the Table. I don't actually think starting at level 1 vs. 2 is terribly important in storytelling in the first place other than that a few D&D classes pick their subclass at L2 and that choice can be narratively relevant, which it was in TAZ; however, some classes pick a subclass at L3 so you can still achieve this with a level 2 start (as Critical Role's second campaign does). Both Emily Axford of NADDPod and Griffin McElroy of TAZ have long been composing their own music and RQG is heavily sound designed. These are not obscure pulls, either; these are some of the more well-known names in the space.

At this point, Polygon AP/TTRPG articles - by multiple different writers - simply feel like madlibs: "(actual play show) is groundbreaking in its (thing that other shows have been doing for 5+ years); I especially liked (visual effect) and (incorrect understanding of TTRPG mechanics)."

The people I allude to in the post you responded to as having egregiously uncharitable and sanctimonious takes on Daggerheart (within, again, hours of its publication) are a frequent Polygon contributor and a Rascal editor and they further my mistrust of those publications: There is this constant insistence that everything they like be "groundbreaking" and "innovating" and they will claim this even when it's demonstrably not the case, as the above examples note. As Mulligan says in your article "it’s important to keep new artists with new experiences and backgrounds flowing in," and yet by focusing intensely on high production values (difficult for smaller indie upstarts to have) and by incorrectly claiming that a well-established media company within the space like D20 invented a number of things it flat out did not, this journalism is actively, if unintentionally, working against that goal. As I put it elsewhere, Polygon's bizarre pedestaling of Dimension 20 and simultaneous putdowns of Critical Role (which turn into wild contortions when D20 mainstays like Mulligan or Aabria Iyengar collaborate with CR; for that matter others besides me have observed that Polygon acts like Spenser Starke is two different people, the genius who created Alice is Missing and the knuckle-dragging moron who put out Candela Obscura and Daggerheart) coupled with the obsession with production values over story has the whiff of claiming they're the champion of the little guy for sticking it to the 700 lb gorilla in the space and then focusing on 500 lb gorillas while making it impossible for smaller monkeys to compete because most brand new shows without the name recognition of someone like Mulligan involved can't exactly hire Rick Perry to do their models or Taylor Moore to do sound design.

I suppose a good way to put this, since I've run into this in many spaces, not just AP/TTRPG or even journalism, is that bias on its own in a subjective medium isn't inherently bad; but if something is so nakedly biased against something I love, I will, naturally, turn to it with a far more critical eye, and if its arguments are not ironclad I'm going to start noticing every structural issue in every argument and every tiny mistake. Sure, as a fan of Critical Role, and as someone who feels that Kollok was nigh-unwatchable and that Burrow's End was promising in parts but deeply flawed, I disagreed with Polygon's nonstop mud-slinging towards the former and glowing, verging on fawning reviews of the latter two. But that's not entirely damning on its own; I do get that not everyone will like Critical Role and that some people will love Kollok or Burrow's End for valid reasons. What's damning is the journalism itself is riddled with factual errors and the analysis is so weak that to call the arguments a flimsy house of cards would be generous. The opposite is also true; if Polygon's lead editor were out here repeatedly misspelling the name of one of the main characters in Worlds Beyond Number (note: this has since been corrected) but the articles had compelling arguments, even ones I disagreed with, I'd be far more forgiving, but as is? It's offering me absolutely nothing: it's poorly researched, it's poorly structured, it's poorly written, it's poorly copy-edited, and it shits on things I like seemingly just for clicks. I'm done giving clicks.

I am deeply sympathetic to the pressures facing digital journalism and media and the arts in general; as someone who is fortunate enough not to personally face those pressures and has the income to be a patron, I would love to help in my small way (and I do, at least, financially support a number of the AP shows I love). But the quality of some of this journalism is truly so bad that I can't bring myself to support the institutions putting it out; it's "dead dove do not eat" until such time as someone whose analysis and opinions I do trust cites them (or, perhaps, until there is a sea change of lead editorship). I know that this won't help the crunch, and may make it worse, but I just can't because the quality is so poor. I don't have a good solution to how to write about something that takes a lot of time to watch and process and about which the articles pay very little in return, but the current strategy of bouncing between uninformed provocateur and utter sycophant depending on the show and creators; of drooling over such surface features as shiny production and falsely claiming everything is "groundbreaking" while getting the most basic facts wrong has driven me away.

#rowzeoli #i'm leaving this rebloggable but other people...try to be respectful i will turn off reblogs if need be.#long post

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libraford · 7 months

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Aren't you a photographer? What is the horrible employee doing? Purely curious, because I'm just imagining him swinging equipment around like a wackadoo. 🤔

Freaks out if theres even the slightest hiccup in technology, blames the computer, says 'it would be so much easier without the computer.' The computer is how we match 1000 names to 1000 faces, so hes welcome to try that on his own.

It is against the rules to show the photos to the students because, especially at high and middle schools, it means that some kids will want 10 takes. Furthermore, it means that everyone will line up behind the 'cool one that let's you see your photo,' which means no one will go to any of the other lines. When I tell him not to do this he does it anyway and says to the students 'well I'll hmget in trouble if I show it to you, but if you walk back here while I'm adjusting my lights I cant stop you from looking.' I have told him that we need to all be on the same page or it looks unprofessional, and that continuing to do it is blatantly undermining my authority as a crew lead. He says 'I didnt mean to undermine your authority.' Yes you did. You literally did it. You did it in front of me. On purpose. Like at least pretend to respect me.

But probably the biggest one- blatant violation of the no-touch policy. He keeps asking kids for high fives and its like... dude... dud we not just have an entire pandemic? But also he will physically move people to adjust them. Without their consent. Which is the OTHER reason we have this policy- because we are strangers and they did not consent to be touched.

People have complained about that last one, and he appears not to listen when I remind him that the policy is there for our safety and theirs.

And it kinda comes down to that he doesnt respect anyone. Because hes been a photographer 15 years, so why listen to the bitch half your age that's only been in the business five years? Never mind that he couldnt figure out lighting basics in training so... whatever.

Tomorrow is his last day and it cant come sooner.

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zeldamomoe · 9 months

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We survived the Orlando NieR concert hunger games and came out attacked for sure, but satisfied with our mezzanine seats. As much as I'd love to meet Yoko Taro, since I've loved this series with all my heart since I played the PS3 version of NIER in 2015ニーアゲシュタルト, VIP is just not in the cards at the moment. I'll keep an eye on the site, but I had one in my cart that someone put back earlier on the day of public ticket sales, and then it slipped through my fingers so fast 😭 But who are we seeing there in March??!! I am scared to fly for the first time post-pandemic, especially to FLORIDA 💀 but my friends were like let's go! and we were already planning a trip there, and it's the best concert date, timing wise for work for me. So I couldn't say no lmao. Thank you @shrubbyprincess for securing our tickets! I just ordered a new human Emil cos too because I am outgrowing this beautiful suit that Caroline Krunchy made me a tad bit (Lady Zero and FinalFlick Videos were there first hand to see the pants rip even and that was in 2017 the same year it was made lmao; I blame myself for giving bad measurements) 🤣

📸 my partner Raph, edits by me Emil sash & suit made by @carolinekrunchy Emil staff made by ZomNom Studios Bro Nier is @shrubbyprincess Bro Nier cosplay made by Harv Cosplay Weiss made by Mecchan-chan

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justanotherblonde · 2 months

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it's sasodei week 2024!

i have precisely one thing to contribute, but ffs it's not done yet grr!! maybe we can blame my dog... she demanded i come play with her no less than nine times (i kept track) as i wrote this post (she does this by shouting at me then humping my leg to show me who's boss, sometimes pulling on my sweater sleeve with her sharp li'l teefs, beagles, man, i tell ya...) 🐶

anyway!! here's a TEASER of my Day 3 Band/Rockstar/Idol AU story ahhhhh!!! it's not even titled yet!!!!! i don't even really know what the tags will be! and i haven't had time to make a header image!! 😫

but this i know, oh this i know:

Sasori is first chair cello of the Sunagakure Philharmonic

He has a dirty little secret hobby: listening to metal (among other genres that are definitely not classical)

One of the bands he listens to is called C4

Guess who's the lead singer???

Yes, you guessed it, it's Deidara, singer/song-writer, perhaps much more...

In this AU, everybody lives!! Well... okay fine, Sasori's parents still didn't make it, i'm sorry

But that means two important things: Third Kazekage is alive! And there are a LOT of Uchiha running around.

There's more, a lot more, but you'll have to wait until i steal more minutes and hours from my dog and my work! but i'll give it to ya, come hell or high water! or wildfires, earthquakes, debilitating PM 2.5 ratings, or uh... dare i say... another pandemic??? FEAR NOT!

if you want to wait for the full thing to drop to read, i've left the teaser excerpt below the cut.

a million thanks to @sasodeiweek for hosting this event and encouraging us SasoDei creators to flex our creative muscles! loving all the contributions so far!

and without further ado...

Rehearsal ran circles round Sasori’s ears. The music followed him always, all hours.

Chapter 1

Rehearsal ran circles round Sasori’s ears. The music followed him always, all hours.

The fine, agile fingers of his left hand twitched; his right hand swayed side to side, marking the strokes of his bow. Eyes half-closed, his feet kept time on the pavement as he walked. It was Haydn this week, Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major. A weighty yet familiar responsibility for Sasori, first chair cello of the Sunagakure Philharmonic.

He sighed. Rehearsal had wrapped half an hour ago. He was on his way home, and tomorrow was a rest day. He didn’t need to torture himself like this.

The headphones around his neck were a comforting weight, as friendly and intimate as the straps of his cello case on his shoulders. He flipped them over his ears and dug in his coat pocket for his phone. Scrolling through the saved playlists on his music app, he skipped all of the classical “homework” and went straight for his guilty pleasures: dance-pop, glam-rock, musicals… and heavy metal.

No one at work knew about his low, low tastes.

Well, the Third had known.

Sasori gritted his teeth, biting back unbidden memories. Now he definitely needed to blast his brain clean with some noise.

Something heavy.

Something loud.

Something to transport him far away from the sand-scraped streets of Sunagakure.

His thumb landed on the album he was looking for.

Art is an EXPLOSION by C4. Track 1: “Light It Up.”

From that first haunting guitar chord, the tension Sasori held in his chest and face dispersed. He rode that twisting whine down, down… someplace dark and cool, far beneath the earth. As the barreling drums built to a crescendo, he held his breath—wait for it!—

A million years, through timeless stone I’m damned to walk this path alone This darkness, all I’ve ever known…

The lead singer had a deep, melodic voice. He molded each word of the verse carefully, tenderly, as if he were embarking on a ballad… then WHAM!

Cymbals crashed; the roaring chorus caught the last two notes of an electrifying riff like a surfer hopping a wave:

Light it up! Hey, light it up! Strike a match and light it up! My fuse is short, ’m ready to blow, Crush the ceiling down to the floor!

Not in a million years would Sasori admit out loud to anyone that he listened to C4, especially not now that the public were actually aware of their existence. The metal band had catapulted to fame last year with their single “Burn Down All the Discos,” but Sasori had been listening to them well before that. Three years ago, his music app had recommended him a track from Art is an EXPLOSION—C4’s debut album—based on his eclectic streaming history.

If the first song Sasori had heard by C4 had been anything but “Artist,” he’d probably never have given them a chance: their usual sound was, on the surface, sloppy, and most of the lyrics were childish boasts. “Look at me!” their vocalist seemed to say in every song.

But “Artist” was different. It was, inexplicably, an up-tempo perversion of Vivaldi’s Winter Largo in F Minor, lamenting how hard it was to live for art’s sake when the world ran on money and heroic virtue. Listeners without classical training would be unable to appreciate or likely even identify the subtleties of what had been done with the classical score, but the first time he heard it, Sasori had been riveted. Vivaldi’s rhythmic harpsichord had been replaced with a softly tapped snare drum; a mournful electric guitar carried the melody when it wasn’t sung.

Curiosity piqued, Sasori had investigated the rest of the album, and found similar nods to classical music throughout the tracks, much harder to notice than the adapted Vivaldi, drowned as they were in a thunderstorm of electric guitar and percussion. C4 were more than just a metal band: they experimented with typical traits of the genre and also drew from pop rock, classical music, even musical theatre to create a sound unlike anything Sasori had ever heard. They broke all the rules and they did it with glee.

One day—a rest day—home alone and bored, Sasori had looked up the band online. It surprised him to learn that the lead singer had been only sixteen when the band was formed. That powerful voice certainly didn’t sound like it belonged to a teenager. But the band’s website was light on biographical information, and Sasori hadn’t felt like digging deeper. An overwhelming amount of fan sites and social media accounts had sprung up since “Burn Down All the Discos” and C4’s world tour. Bored as he was that day, Sasori wasn’t about to use his precious free time to obsess over some flash-in-the-pan rock band, especially one fronted by a kid.

And yet, he still listened to them.

“Artist” often competed for the position of most frequently-played song on his app, but only when he was feeling particularly moody.

It crossed his mind that he ought to check if C4 had come out with anything new lately—the app usually sent a message when artists he’d followed released new music. Pausing to wait for a traffic light, he dug for his phone again.

Lo and behold, a new album had dropped not three days ago.

Beauty of a Moment, it was called. The cover art featured the Venus de Milo... mid-explosion.

Sasori chuckled under his breath. “He really does fancy himself an artist, doesn’t he…”

What a fool. Popular music was not art. Rock music was not art. It came and went, but the classics stayed. For centuries. Forever.

It was the one thing Sasori and the Third had always agreed on, despite all of their differences.

Speaking of which…

...

#sasodeiweek2024 #justanotherblonde #sasori #deidara #sasodei #deisaso #sasodeiweek #music AU #band AU #idol AU #rockstar AU

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yeslordmyking · 2 years

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🤔

#tested negative for covid. thank the Lord. but my mom still wants to know if i think i should rest more...#and i'm like can i afford to miss out on God's word any more than i did during the height of the pandemic?#especially with my mental state being.... hehehe #at least I'll be able to blame covid for both.#idk what to do.... Lord forgive me.#i haven't even done anything wrong yet but I'm asking for forgiveness

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changingplumbob · 2 months

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5 and 23 for the storytelling ask please :)

How do you choose your characters’ names? Choose your least favourite character so far.

Strap in because I'm going to happily ramble about my named sims, and gossip about those I despise! Content warning for sim death.

How do you choose your characters’ names? oh my gosh I have wanted to talk about this for ages Amy HOW DID YOU KNOW! It could almost be its own post. So when I started most of my characters had pre existing names because they were premades or from the gallery. I'll talk about the sims I have named.

Devin, Deanna, Silas and Milton were randomised names that I liked. Alexander's cats Hamlet and Gertrude come from the play Hamlet. Clover and Ginger are just dog names I liked.

Joey was actually named after this sea otter at Vancouver Aquarium! During the pandemic he was found orphaned and they livestreamed him in his nursery and meeting the older otters.

Kelly was named before he was born, I wanted a unisex name that could fit a boy or a girl. The boy Kelly I named him after is from Chicago Fire. He is not my favourite character but I do love the complex ones, so him being a jerk and Kelly being evil is one big coincidence.

Fergus and Carson were named with the randomise button, but I know of characters with their names so I kept them.

I wanted all of the Chopra kids to be named after wonderful black characters or persons of renown. The eldest Chopra twin was named after the actress Mercedes Varnardo who plays Koska Reeves on The Mandalorian. I love the spirit of Koska who is dedicated and loyal.

The youngest Chopra twin was named after the character Savannah from Criminal minds who married the main character Derek Morgan. She is an intelligent woman with a big heart.

And the smallest Chopra is of course named after Viola Davis. I wanted an old fashioned sounding name and Viola Davis is amazing.

Pollock Knightstone is named after painter Jackson Pollock. His father Adam is an art critic so I figured he'd name him for an out there artist.

Alfred and Rilian Villareal get their names from the areas of culture their mama and mummy love. Alfred is named for famous director Alfred Hitchcock (that's why he has a thing about birds)

Rilian is named for Prince Rilian from the Narnia books. Specifically Prince Rilian, who is the son of Prince Caspian, is a character in the Silver Chair (a movie I saw several times growing up).

I found Marta's name by looking at a list of popular Latina names. But her surname, Romero, absolutely comes from Romeo and Juliet. If you are attracted to pretty males and haven't seen Douglas Booth playing Romeo you are missing out!

Choose your least favourite character so far

I have several and thankfully they are all dead! It's hard to pick between these two though. Mortimer might beat Ophelia by a smidgeon.

Ophelia Ryan was James Goth's first wife. I hated her on principal because between rotations MCCC married them because James may have had a romance bar with Alexander but they weren't an official couple. Storywise I had her being a snob who only married James for his family status (James had the closeted trait when Alexander started flirting with him). Anyway she refused to believe James was gay, claiming no one actually enjoys woohoo, and was not going to let him divorce her so he could marry his boy toy. Then she had a cardiac explosion and died because she was a COW.

Mortimer Goth became a self obsessed mean man. First off he started blaming Bella for all their troubles, and called her a gold digger repeatedly. He was far more interested in writing his precious bestsellers than caring about his kids or wife. He only saw Cassandra and Alexander as their achievements, and let Milton lie in a diaper blowout for hours because he was writing. Oh and then he slept with their maid. Then he hired Dina to be a live in maid and slept with her before Bella disappeared. Then he was CRUSHED by a meteor made of karma.

#dag dag or tag tag #My sims have name origins #I do actually think about it most of the time #I need to go watch Romeo Douglas Booth again

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eva-knits12 · 5 months

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A TED talk- the PR edition.

I know very little about PR.

Megan Moss Pinchon, the founder of Narrative, had every chance to pull her client, Chris Evans out of this situation. But no. She only sees him as a six-foot-tall walking dollar sign. I'll explain.

Pulling Chris out right after the pap walk. Talk about cringe.

Pulling Chris out right after the family's annual Disney trip. Mama Lisa's annoyed and murderous expression says it all.

Pulling Chris out after the trash nun's famous shower tantrum, which got her suspended on IG, and would have gotten her on a sec offenders registry. But, no. Meg swept that under the rug.

The Ghosted premiere. The trash nun's shoes up uninvited. Chris looks pissed! That's unusual for him, given his happy-go-lucky demeanor.

The laser focused comment. Meg needed to pull Chris from this, but no. She stood by, making sure he stuck to the script. When he didn't, Meg certainly gave him an earful. Instead, we get 5,000.artickes about them being "IG official", onky to have another 5,000 articles about Valentine's Day photo dumos when it's fucking clear he can't stand her, and can"t stand beinf around her.

After Scott's comment. It was clear Scott was put on the spot, and didn't know what to do. Instead, you used a People article to sweep it under the rug.

After the engagement rumors. Boom, there was a huge chance. But no, you just cleaned up using a dog shelter video and a People article about the family.

The "wedding". It's clear that fraud was committed. You had Chris claiming this the same weekend as 9/11, but wait! Was it that Friday? That Saturday? That Sunday? Nobody can keep the timeline straight. When the met? 2020? No, there was a global pandemic, and at that time, you had your client go to London to help clean up the cocaine Cinderella 's mess. He would have been nominated for an Emmy for Defending Jacob, but no. 2021? No, there were still lockdowns. 2022? Think again. They never met. The trash nun was still with Lucas while seducing old men, making internet porn, and selling foot fetish pics and foot fetish videos. You had every chance to pull him out of this. Then, later that week, you had your client in a "second wedding" in Portugal, the trash nun's home turf, only to avoid immigration laws. Where is the marriage license? Visa's with her name on it claiming that she was here? Where is the spousal visa? They don't exist. Ask anyone who has dealt with immigration, and they can tell you becoming a U.S. citizen is a process, albeit a very long one. Anyone who has married a non-U.S. citizen knows that your spouse is not leaving U.S. or foreign soil for a minimum of four months.

The Con. You had your client, Chris, wear an ill fitting ring the entire time, and admit to fraud. His panel wasn't recorded. How convenient. He spent more time talking about Dodger than he did about the trash nun. He looked very exhausted, haggard, and drugged. Since he was drugged to comply, Meg could have wound up in jail for possession with the intent to distribute, but no. Even that was cringe, and Meg was at the Con the whole time, making sure her client stuck to the script. You also had two people right next to him, one taking gifts from fans, and one watching intently. For what? In case he wanted to escape? I wouldn't blame Chris for making a run for it.

Another People article on Thanksgiving. Chris wanted to handle his return to IG and social media privately. But, no. You had to go ahead, embellish the crap out of it, and again, mention the trash nun, when it's perfectly clear that he hasn't said her name this time, and she's not on his list of followers or peopke that is following him. He is only following two accounts, and two accounts are only following him. Again, you had a chance to pull your client, but no. You chose to announce his return to IG loudly using People.

The manipulation quote in the SMA interview. The trash nub is famous for this, and Meg is, too. Again, you had a chance to pull your client from this.

The GQ article. Again, you could have protected and pull your client. But, no. He was drugged to comply, and you had Mama Lisa there making sure he stuck to the script. I'm pretty sure Mama Lisa didn't want anything to do with it.

We all know Meg loves her designer toys and clothes and accessories. Whatever makes her money, that's the tactic she takes. She cares nothing about her Chris and her other clients. I can guarantee she's done the same with her various other clients, but nothing to this extent.

At the end of the day, Meg is working for Chris. It's not Chris working for Meg. Chris just needs to fire her. She's done more harm than good, and all at the expense and the safety of her client.

I just want to give Chris a hug, and tell him it's going to be okay. I'm still sticking around because I believe in him.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

#chris evans #pr stunt #fuck narrative #ted talks

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demivampirew · 1 year

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My thoughts on The Witcher/ The Witcher: Blood Origins situation

Disclaimer: This is going to be a long post. I've been meaning to write this for a while. I might do a 2 parts post because it's going to be really long.

Let's start with that stupid, stupid rumour started by Deuxmoi. First, I think it's idiotic to pay attention to what a sh*tty gossip blog says about Henry, especially when they've talked badly about him in the past - they had shared negative blind items with any legitime source, on the style of "someone told me this alleged thing about him"

So let me post first the stupid rumour and then I'll comment point by point:

"I recently got this message and somebody was like, "do you want to know what really went down?" She doesn't say who the source is and if she verified that the rumour at least came from someone who could actually have access to what happened on set; for the way that the rumour is disclosed, it could've been a random person who hated Henry and Deuxmoi took it as legit.

(...)"A lot of unusual demands" which demands? If they're unusual, they should be specific so people can examine if they're actually unusual and he's behaving like a diva. "that made people feel like he wasn't really a team player" this person is talking about Henry in season 1, the same Henry that dehydrated himself to look ripped for shirtless scenes but, sure, he's not really a team player 🙄.

"But in seasons 2 and 3, something shifted" could it be that right after episode 1 of season 2 there was a global pandemic and he had months of solitude to think about his life goals; also he injured himself while filming (such a bad team player, I know) and he might have re-think if it's worth it to keep pushing himself for a show that doesn't respect the IP as he does and that put him on the background except when it's time to promote the show and they use his likeness to sell the final product he's not happy with? "it became really impossible for women to work with, which is always a big problem" even if this rumour is true, I don't see how this could be his fault; as we're going to see next, he's going to be accused of being "toxic" for being a gamer and use gamer language, well guess what? The Witcher became famous through video games, meaning, the targeted audience and the ones who made the IP well-known are gamers. If women feel uncomfortable working with gamers and people who want to stay loyal to the source material, maybe don't work in a show where the targeted audience is gamers and they tend to be opinionated about the adaptations of the lores they love. "But even worse, because the showrunner is a woman" again, how is this Henry's fault? Lauren is the one who agreed to be the person with most power in a show adaptation of a story who became famous worldwide thanks to video games, it's not like she didn't know they were the ones who would watch the show and the ones who she'd have to please. Also, she worked in comic book adaptations before so she can have an idea how passionate (and sometimes toxic) that kind of fanbase could be yet, she accepted the job and all that comes with it. "He would try to overrule her and try to get changes made last minute across the board without her knowledge" so far, I think the only change he made was the lines after Roach's death and, it was because he felt it was an insult to make a joke. Also, it wasn't completely without her knowledge because they had an argument about it before this and she told him to see if he could find something better to say, according to Lauren herself. "(...) The showrunner has to sign off on every minuscule detail down to the bottoms of a costume" this, this is where I want to put stress on. Lauren a few weeks ago tried to deviate the blame from Eskel's death to the writer, Beau de Mayo, because he was the one who wrote the episode -it's worth mentioning that she tried to throw him under the bus because he's the one who said there were writers who hated the IP. She's the showrunner; she's the maximum authority there; she has to greenlight everything for it to happen and, she could've easily said no if she didn't want Eskel to be killed. Also, yes, Beau was the one who wrote the episode but he might have been told to kill an important character in that episode; again, the showrunner is the one who has to supervise everything and if a writer does something that could hurt the story, like killing a character that survives in every other media, she has to say no or change the writer if this doesn't want to. There's no excuse here for her incompetence. This is on her.

"Female writers and directors were suddenly ignored on set, unable to do their jobs" sorry, what?! 🤣 Writers are never on set, their job has to be done before filming the season starts. The showrunner is the only one who's usually on set. As for the female directors, there are only two listed for S2 and one of them said and I quote "Had the pleasure of directing episodes 6 and 7" (source https://www.instagram.com/p/CW8z6KurW2f/?hl=en ) As for s3, the only director attached it's Stephen Surjik -who in the past said how polite Henry was on the set and that he could become a politician because he was so polite to anyone and took the time to greet everyone (https://youtu.be/kcUgoyQSQ1k?t=84 I marked it on the exact time he speaks about Henry)

"He started making comments. It wasn't a sexual thing: he wasn't grabbing anyone or being lewd, but it was disrespectful and toxic all the same." again being too vague and don't give specifics; how was he being toxic? What kind of comments would he make that would make people, especially women uncomfortable? Could those comments be about the script and how unhappy he's with it? He's a famous actor and his reputation is on the line so, yeah, he has the right to speak when he's not happy about it. His indie movies proved his range as an actor but, he prefers to do comic books and video game adaptations, that's his chosen career path so he wants to keep the reputation as someone who cares for the source material and he's going to be outspoken about it. If anyone behind the scenes cannot take a gamer critiquing the work of an adaptation of an IP they love, maybe those people should be looking for a different job.

Then they talk sh*t about him being an addict because he likes to play video games. "He was distracted, he was late, he was obsessive" funny because Stephen Surjik in the interview that I link above said how he was always on time, prepared and knew all his lines and stunts. Also make-up and hair takes him about 2h so maybe sometimes he could've been a bit late because of that. Also, in case this person forgot, he was injured while filming s2, so maybe he could've been late sometimes because he was in pain? I don't know, I assume it must hurt; I hurt my ankle years ago and I was in pain for months. And, again, this could also be a lie because Stephen said he was always ready. Then again with the bullsh*t about gamer language, what language, Karen, what language did he allegedly use that was so disrespectful?

Then back again with the re-writing scenes, I assume it's the Roach scene and only Freya was there and she had no lines at that moment, so it doesn't affect her.

"He decided he didn't want any romantic scenes at all. No kissing, no shirtless scenes, etc" oh Karen, I'm going to fight you so hard on this. I'm actually pissed. As for romantic scenes, he didn't say no romance, he said no romance with Triss; he felt the real love story was between Geralt and Yennefer and he felt Geralt would be loyal to Yen, the fact that there was no romance was a writers/Lauren issue because they went against what the IP says and made Yennefer a b*tch who tried to sacrifice Ciri for power so of course Geralt wouldn't ignore that and just be romantic with her despite what she did. As for kissing scenes, I call it bullsh*t because Henry himself said in interviews that he had no problem with kissing scenes even when covid was (and is) still a thing; he said he'd only be uncomfortable if there was a kissing scene involved and he saw Anya coughing and sneezing, meaning with clear symptoms of covid (https://youtu.be/JldJ9cDzZ1o?t=1081 source). As for shirtless scenes, is it a crime that he didn't want to have shirtless scenes? Correct me if I'm wrong but, Anya didn't have naked scenes this season either. Why is it a problem only if he doesn't want to do shirtless scenes unless they're necessary? Also, S2 was filmed in the middle of a pandemic; there was a hiatus of filming that lasted months where he couldn't go out to the gym and only had a few weeks to properly train in a gym before they resume filming, it's possible he didn't feel comfortable shirtless after a long period without training.

"He wanted complete control over storylines," I think he wanted Geralt to be more than a grumpy dude that says "hmm" and "fuck" all the time. If he's used as the lead actor for promotion, his character should have more screen time and focus on the show. The part about him not knowing about tv structure and budget is bullsh*t. The problem he had was with the script and characters motivations and stuff, things that didn't require the budget to fix; maybe if they didn't go for the stupid Voleith Meir thing they could have afforded other stuff, just saying.

About the "weird alliance" with the witcher writer who was allegedly fired, who I assume was Beau, the one who exposed them for not liking the source material. Could you, Karen, explain more? So far, the only connection I saw was a text message that Beau send Henry after Nightmare of the Wolf (the movie he wrote) was released to see if Henry saw it. That doesn't seem like two people with a weird alliance. Also, if Beau was so toxic, why was he allowed to write the animated movie?

Here's the receipt to the message; the photo was taken by a paparazzi and posted to DailyMail.

"Henry did anything he could to hold up production and cause problems" How? What did he do to hold up production and cause problems? Was it maybe that he challenged a few script points to better the end result? Maybe he pointed out how uncharacteristic was that Yennefer tried to kidnap Ciri and sacrifice her for her powers because Yennefer loves Ciri as if she was her own daughter. Or maybe he thought it was unrealistic that Vesemir would use Ciri to try to create more Witchers, including Ciri herself. There are lots of plot points that could've worried him that it wasn't going to work out and, guess what, it didn't work. Fans hated it.

Ok, assuming it was right about the HR complaints; then, why would Netflix allow him to be in Enola Holmes 2? That was filmed after S2 wrapped. Why would they allow a person who had lots of complaints to go to work on another movie and do a third season of the show he was an assh*le. If this is true, and the part about him sending an email to the entire writing staff (I doubt, even if this is true, that he'd send an email himself, given that even posting on his social media nowadays is a task of his team) if, and it's a very big if, he sent an email to writers, I assume must have been to apologize because he didn't realize he was being perceived as rude or hard to work with.

For me, this is just bullsh*t. Even if this person actually worked there, it's clearly someone, possibly a writer, that's pissed about the Witcher campaign to fire them and re-hire Henry. And, even if this is true, it's definitely an exaggeration as I proved. It wouldn't prove that Henry is toxic but, actually, if women and people there can't take gaming lingo and people are passionate about the IP they love, maybe they shouldn't seek to work in video game-related adaptations -I know The Witcher is supposed to be an adaptation to the books but it was the game who put the IP in the map, worldwide, so gamers and the targeted audience for this.

Ok, part 1 of my rant/thoughts ends here and continues on a new post (I'll edit the post with the link to the second part once I post it)

#henry cavill #geralt #geralt of rivia #the witcher #the witcher netflix #anya chalotra #freya allan #ciri #yennefer #lauren hissrich #lauren schmidt hissrich #deuxmoi

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